Mulege Adventures...The Fun Bus and Hacienda Times

I didn't want to highjack Whale-ista's thread about his bus conversion, so have posted this separate bus thread, although it is somewhat related. So, for what it's worth...

I searched, found, and made this collage of the bus converted to an Adventure Bus for Baja. It had good seating, a strong diesel, a kitchen for snacks on the go, and music.

In 1988-1989-1990, operating out of Mulege, the operator, Aaron, would take folks on fun outings in the area. Sometimes towing a large barbeque for special fiestas and providing videos. I recall the painting on the side did read 'Adventure Baja'.

Aaron also leased the Hacianda Hotel and Cantina for a period. Those days of The Dane, Jean Pierre and Chantel, remember? I sure wondered about the day Aaron decided to paint over all the old signatures from movie stars and travelers from long ago. A lot of us were aghast, to say the least (hey, finally got to use that neat word... aghast.)

Don't know what became of him or the bus..like so many ventures back in the day, it all soon faded away...leaving only a rumor that he had started a Porti-Pig business in California.

Anything but dull, something's always happening in Baja.





[Edited on 3-6-2015 by Pompano]

Kurt, I think you just missed us when you stayed at the Hacienda all those years ago. During some house repairs after a little storm the year before, we stayed in room No. 4..shown here. It was just around the corner to the left as you entered from the street. Hah..I remember No. 4 because it cost us just 4 bucks - back in the day.



Our 'suite' is straight ahead. We were mighty glad to have it.



I remember these old cantina walls being covered with autographs...John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Burt Reynolds, Lisa Minneli, Dinah Shore and hundreds of other characters, plus my amigo, Randy's, and mine...all gone now. grrrrrrr

I don't think owner Alfonso was aware of Aaron plans to redecorate by painting over all that history.

At least he never dug out the old peso coins laminated into the bar top!!

My first time at La Hacienda was 1994....and attended a pig roast in their dining room....attended by a large crowd of Cave Painting experts....a French Canadian (I think) guy was managing the place at that time....

Still ride my bike into the courtyard.....







[Edited on 3-5-2015 by motoged]

The Hacienda Hotel and Cantina is a thing of legend in Mulege. Some raucous celebrations...some stately weddings...some somber celebrations of the departed (the un-sober)...it all happened here sooner or later. Here are a few memories of that place.




It has undegone drastic restorations since the floods.


The flowering tree makes welcome shade in the hot months.



I love that the old water well with the dump buckets was left. This is from the times long ago when cattle were brought here for auction from miles around.





A truly gifted flamenco guitarist playing in the Hacienda courtyard. He was undergoing a series of throat cancer treatments in TJ at the time and would return to Mulege for his R & R. Such a great attitude of life he expressed, even though he knew the future was dire. He blessed us all with a performance in Coyote at mi casa. Maestro, now you play for God.



Here's another great Hacienda regular back in the day...Adolfo. Sadly, he also has been gone from the scene for a few years.



Many years later, Adolfo sitting at the old 'Donna Moes' Pizza Shop.



Jean-Pierre(white hat) and neice, Chantelle (front left) leased and ran the Hacienda in the early 90's and made the place rock! Here they join a crew for a fiesta at mi Coyote casa. Jean-Pierre was priceless when it came to entertainment and fine food.



Jean-Pierre was known locally as 'Pica de Oro' for a good reason. Here giving yet another senorita riding lessons along the river in Mulege.


And Pierre with help from our good amigo, Mateo, a wealthy Welshman homebuilder, sailor, and artist who carved the Hacienda's sign, among many other store signs in town, including the Candil cafe and Sauls.

Mateo-Matt Matthews. In additon to all these carvings below and more, Mateo was the man responsible for completely restoring the Candil Restaurant to what it is today. He spent about $75,000 USD of his own on the redo with the original owners...the Martinez family, I believe. I asked him why restore this old bar with such lavishness...and he said.."I've always wanted a nice place I could walk into and have a free beer." He used his artistic ability to think out and make all the creations there today. Inlaid barwork, paintings, wall decor, backroom seating, etc. He was quite a philantropist and helped so many folks in Mulege.

He operated the cantina himself until making a deal with the next operator, Pierce, later on. I fondly remember his Black Cuban Beans. He was at the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba and had quite a few stories to tell. He and wife, Cher, were also neighbors at Coyote Bay and an expert sailors on his sailboat, 'Gale', teaching a lot of us 'Sunday Sailors' how to hold regattas and sail 'wing on wing', etc. Damn...Both Mateo and Cher have joined the list of MIA's that is growing so fast these days. Oh well, they were lively folks and truly lived their lives. Indeed, Mateo lived the life he wanted until that final summer day when he fell overboard from a heart attack and drifted into my seawall. Say hello to some Irish for me, Mateo...sorry I wasn't there to help you up.



Some other artworks of Mateo's around Mulege..

Hacienda Hotel sign



Matt carved this walking stick for Co-ilot, which remains a prized and well-used item today.



Saul's market sign



Killer Caine was also a regular and we had some pretty good times together.



He was quite a dresser... even loaned me his parasol.



..and recorded many videos of our times - mostly trials and errors in date-making.




A recurring nightmare was to be greeted by these apparitions when exiting the place on Sunday morning...



Occasionally 'Fingers', a local, would try his luck at the bar, but usually was 86'ed, because nobody could be counted on to give him CPR mouth to mouth.



The 2nd cantina within the Hacienda..facing the town square. It went thru a couple of changes of managers back then...Alfonso, Aaron, Jean-Pierre, Pierce & Co., and so on...

Here's the time when 'Pierce & Co'. leased the place and called it "The Pelicano."



After that, 'Jean-Pierre' called it "Casablanca", to which I loaned a framed photo of the entire Casablance film crew and their autographs to hang on the wall. It was a gift from a Hollywood director who lived at Posada.



Renya, a local guitarist/SINGER! would wander in and play for you....and as loud as you could possibly want...whew.



Sitting at the bar and just watching someone washing glasses was worthwhile.



Pacifico was the most served brew.



With a rum&coke the most served c-cktail.


Some more great times were watching the glass-washing.






You didn't need a lot of things to keep you happy...could just be watching the glass-washing.


All good memories of a classic old Baja cantina. There are many good times left in there, I'm sure. And if you should see a few smiles left on the bar, there're probably mine.


[Edited on 3-7-2015 by Pompano]

Hola Terry,

Indeed, I failed to mention Mike George, but I associate Mike more with 'George's Ole' at Playa Buenaventura than with the Hacienda. His time at the Hacienda was brief. And I may be biased. I recall inviting some Coyote neighbors over to his 'Ole' beach cafe after he had recommended tiger shrimp dinners...many years ago. When I was paying the bill, I noticed he had somehow neglected to tell me the price would include all of the airplane fuel costs for his regular twin-engine plane run to Guaymas and back. Adios to $800 bucks for an afternoon snack. He got a free ride for all his other cafe supplies that month...and the shady trick tended to put a strain on any future friendship or business.

Much later I returned and the many great mushroom burgers and cold beers with Mark, Olivia and the parrot healed my wounds.